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CBS Boston: Resurgence of conservative talk radio influences MA political scene

raccoonradio

raccoonradio

http://boston.cbslocal.com/2014/11/...ng-mass-political-scene/#.VGuxaaFPaWk.twitter

>>With the exception of Scott Brown’s 2010 win, the past decade has been a tough stretch for the clout of conservative local talk as democrats such as Massachusetts Gov. Deval Patrick felt free to give it the cold shoulder. But Carr said that just made his audience mad...Rea explained that conservative talk radio’s interactivity with listeners preserves its special role in residents’ civic lives.

Did Carr and Rea, etc help to elect Brown in 2010 and this yr Baker/Yes on Question 1 wins (Howie may have also helped via his network the wins
of Giunta in the NH US Rep race, Paul LePage in ME Gov race...
 
resurgence?? Nothing changed!! Here's the most telling sentence of the whole article, right in the first paragraph: "And if you ask local conservative talk radio hosts, the airwaves are a big reason for that."

Howie Carr thinks the world revolves around him? That's not news. Take a look at political talk in Boston today, and take a look at it 5 years ago. Is there more political talk today? No. Are there the same number of political talk stations? No. Are there new, more relevant hosts? No, same ones that have been around for decades. Are the remaining hosts seeing their ratings increase? No. Are their revenues increasing? No.

So the public wanted a change. Completely unrelated.
 
CBS Boston gets to plug their own Dan Rea. (Call letters and dial position mentioned. Howie is quoted but he's on "a Boston area station".)
Maybe a good point, but you wonder if some of the radio exposure helped Baker and Guinta win their narrow victories, while Brown's '10 win
(made possible in part by the same opponent Charlie Baker had) may have been helped a bit by Scott's appearances on Howie's show.
A huge influence? Probably not, but there was some. (Other circumstances of course; Brown's '10 win was a special election in the winter.
When he tried to run for a full term it happened to be in a Presidential election year and many Dems, etc. came out for that... plus a
chance to have the first female US senator in MA history.

--
2014 election trivia: Ted Kennedy won election to the Senate.
...Ted Kennedy Jr., 53...Conn. state senate
 
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With Howie Carr on a rinky dink sounding station like WMEX no one in their right mind could say Boston talk radio is in anything but retrograde.
raccoonradio said:
CBS Boston gets to plug their own Dan Rea. (Call letters and dial position mentioned. Howie is quoted but he's on "a Boston area station".)
Maybe a good point, but you wonder if some of the radio exposure helped Baker and Guinta win their narrow victories, while Brown's '10 win
(made possible in part by the same opponent Charlie Baker had) may have been helped a bit by Scott's appearances on Howie's show.
A huge influence? Probably not, but there was some. (Other circumstances of course; Brown's '10 win was a special election in the winter.
When he tried to run for a full term it happened to be in a Presidential election year and many Dems, etc. came out for that... plus a
chance to have the first female US senator in MA history.

--
2014 election trivia: Ted Kennedy won election to the Senate.
...Ted Kennedy Jr., 53...Conn. state senate
Click to expand...
 
They need to work out some kinks to be sure. Power-wise, they do take a hit after dark tho I was driving around Cape Ann before and after sunset, then back to Beverly and it was ok but faded at times. As I ate at Bertucci's I did listen via smartphone, something more and more people will have to do. Earlier in the day I was in Salisbury and Newburyport as Dennis Miller came on and it was fine.
At one point during the show Howie's voice was a bit off mike; Sandy may have had him switch mikes--better but tinny.

As for possible infliuence in the election, even if it was just enough to put Baker over the top, note he was on WRKO at the time.
Also for the Jerry Williams fans out there remember who he and Howie supported? Weld, not Silber in '90. And Jerry went after Mike Dukakis
prez run in '88--and appeared on some other radio talk shows and Morton Downey's TV show. Whether it helped Bush or not here in Boston,
not sure. They had a woman call in and sing "Unelectable..." to the tune of "Unforgettable" and a taped bit featured Dukakis' voice saying
"Taxes..." as Pee Wee Herman's secret word. Jerry saw himself as a populist and muckraker and went after "hacks and cronies",
a Congressional pay raise (call ins from Ralph Nader) and things like the mandatory seat belt law. Though had Howie not been buckled up
a couple weeks back he could have been greatly injured or killed when his car flipped on the pike.

Jerry at the 'new' WMEX
http://wmexradio.com/yahoo_site_admin/assets/images/Jerry_williams_1977.17121226_std.jpg

Jerry on the Morton Downey show--opposed to Dukakis
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K06WgWZK2hQ
 
Resurgence? I don't think so. Few people under the age of 55 listen to talk radio nowadays.

As for Rush Limbaugh, his show has really gone downhill in the last few years, he can barely talk with his hearing problem.
 
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